Census data shows poverty hitting Washington County children hard, By Tom Walsh, February 7, 2012, Bangor Daily News: “Nearly one in three children living in Washington County lives in poverty. A recent study titled ‘Poverty in Maine’ shows 30.9 percent of those under age 18 are living in Washington County households with incomes below the federal poverty level. On a county-by-county basis, that is the highest childhood poverty rate in Maine. Statewide, the childhood rate is 18.2 percent, which is less than the national rate of 21.6 percent…”

• Maine Governor LePage backs nation’s toughest Medicaid cuts, By Christine Vestal, February 6, 2012, Stateline.org: “Medicaid spending is a matter of urgency almost everywhere in the country right now, but in few places is the urgency as palpable as it is here, where the governor refers to the federal-state health insurance program for the poor as ‘welfare,’ says it’s necessary to eliminate coverage for 65,000 adults, and wants to stop paying room and board for some 2,000 elders who live in group homes. All these ideas are part of Republican Governor Paul LePage’s plan to close a $220 million hole in the state’s biennial Medicaid budget. ‘If we are to bring our welfare system to a manageable level that Maine can afford,’ LePage insists, ‘we must make the necessary structural changes … The state can no longer use gimmicks to fill the hole.’ The size of Maine’s Medicaid shortfall is substantial, but it pales in comparison to gaps in many other states. In fact, health experts in Maine say the program has survived far bigger shortfalls in recent years without cutting the rolls. Still, LePage argues that the program can no longer provide a ‘free lunch’ to poor 19- and 20-year olds, or to healthy adults responsible for the care of others…”
• Obama administration rejects Medi-Cal copayments, By Judy Lin (AP), San Francisco Chronicle: “Federal health officials on Monday said California cannot force Medi-Cal recipients to make a co-pay for doctor visits and prescription drugs, a decision that brings relief to low-income patients but complicates the state’s effort to close a $9.2 billion budget deficit. A letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said agency officials were ‘unable to identify the legal and policy support’ for the state’s request. The decision is the latest in a string of legal and regulatory challenges that have made it difficult for the state to reduce spending and balance its budget. Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers were planning to save $511 million a year in the health insurance program by requiring low-income patients to pay a share of their medical costs…”

• 99 week maximum for jobless benefits may drop as low as 59 weeks, By Olivera Perkins, January 26, 2012, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “People thrust out of work in Ohio might have to settle for a much shorter period of unemployment benefits. Jobless workers here have been able to count on 99 weeks of benefits, but the maximum could fall to as low as 59 weeks. That possibility raises a divisive question: Is 99 weeks — almost two years — too long to draw jobless benefits…?”
• Jobless benefits to expire unless Pa. House acts, By Laura Olson, January 31, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Thousands of Pennsylvanians will see their federally funded unemployment benefits expire after this week, with legislation to extend those checks lingering in the state House of Representatives. A pending measure, which passed the state Senate last week, would offer 13 additional weeks of benefits to the state’s jobless residents. The federal funding was approved by Congress in December but requires the state to tweak its unemployment compensation rules in order to receive those dollars. That bill is awaiting consideration by a House panel, which has a vote scheduled for Monday. Legislative staffers say the belatedly approved benefits would be retroactive, but pressures to also enact broader changes to the state’s unemployment compensation system could further hold up that assistance…”
• Study: Safety net misses many jobless in Nevada, By Ed Vogel, January 30, 2012, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Las Vegans Dylan Wikoff and Jorge Suescun Hijuelos know firsthand the downward spiral that occurs once you lose your job and then exhaust your unemployment benefits without finding work. ‘I ended up homeless on Fremont Street,’ said Wikoff, a 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran who was laid off more than two years ago from a sales job at a construction supply company. ‘It was a slow downward spiral for me,’ said Hijuelos, 51, a longtime union construction worker who had never been without work for more than a few weeks until the completion of the CityCenter project. ‘I sold my car, sold my bedroom set, sold everything to pay my rent. I went from a beautiful condo to renting rooms by the week. I slept in a couple of fields.’ These polite and bright men are not unusual. They actually are some of the lucky ones in the never-ending recession in Nevada…”
• Tension rises over Maine bill tackling unemployment insurance fraud, By Steve Mistler, January 30, 2012, Lewiston Sun Journal: “A controversial bill that would increase the penalties for unemployment fraud and the qualifications to receive out-of-work benefits is meeting stiff resistance from worker advocates. The proposal, LD 1725, was presented by the Department of Labor, which argued that an increase in unemployment claims has been accompanied by an increased possibility of fraud. Additionally, employer advocates are championing a provision in the proposal that would stop exempting vacation pay from the waiting period to receive benefits. Opponents, however, say the bill’s proposal to increase potential criminal penalties for unemployment fraud from a maximum of one year to 10 years in prison is extreme for a state that has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment fraud rates. In addition, they say the bill’s increased work-search mandates will force unemployed workers to take a job well beneath their skill and wage level…”
• Senators want to end jobless benefits for fired workers, By Gina Smith, January 26, 2012, The State: “State senators said Wednesday that they want to make sure that workers who were fired cannot get state unemployment benefits in the future. A Senate panel Wednesday advanced a bill that would prevent workers fired for misconduct from receiving any state unemployment benefits. Under current law, these workers can get jobless benefits for from five to 20 weeks, depending on the type and severity of their workplace infraction. The fired workers still would be eligible for up to 58 weeks of federal unemployment benefits under the proposal…”

• Feds confirm high hurdle for DHHS cuts; LePage officials prepared to take case to D.C., By Steve Mistler, January 27, 2012, Lewiston Sun Journal: “The federal agency that will decide whether some of Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed Medicaid cuts qualify for waivers to make the reductions legal reaffirmed Thursday that the exemptions face long odds. In a written response to the Democratic leads on the Legislature’s budgetary committee, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed that legislative action was not a consideration in whether the agency will grant a waiver from the federal health care law…”
• Kansas governor has no plans to slow Medicaid overhaul, By John Hanna (AP), January 26, 2012, Kansas City Star: “Kansas asked the federal government Thursday to waive some of its rules so that the state can overhaul its $2.9 billion Medicaid program, despite concerns among legislators that Gov. Sam Brownback is moving too quickly to turn all of it over to private health insurance companies. Brownback expects the state to issue contracts this year to three companies to manage the program, which provides health coverage to poor families and disabled and elderly Kansans. The contracts would take effect Jan. 1, 2013, and Kansas wants federal officials to issue a waiver so the state can include services for the disabled and elderly and build in financial incentives for improving services while controlling costs…”

• Cuts to MaineCare, welfare approved in spring 2011 taking effect, By Kathryn Skelton, January 5, 2012, Lewiston Sun Journal: “Changes in the state budget approved last spring and now in effect include cutting MaineCare coverage for hundreds, stopping food stamps for some and, in two weeks, telling 2,500 people receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Your time’s up. Also coming soon: new rules that end TANF benefits for some immigrants and a measure to drug-screen TANF recipients with drug-related felonies dating back to 1996. With three of the five changes affecting legal noncitizens who have been in the U.S. fewer than five years, one advocate said Portland and Lewiston will be hardest hit…”
• New study disputes LePage administration on MaineCare’s childless adults, By Jackie Farwell, January 9, 2012, Bangor Daily News: “The childless adults Gov. Paul LePage has proposed dropping from MaineCare are far from young and healthy, despite rhetoric to the contrary, according to a report released Monday by an advocacy group for the poor. More than 40 percent of childless adults covered through MaineCare are older than 45 and many have serious medical conditions, states the report prepared by Maine Equal Justice Partners. Known as ‘noncategoricals’ because they don’t fall under categories of mandatory coverage, the childless adult group consists of beneficiaries ages 21-64 with no dependents in the home who don’t qualify as disabled under federal guidelines…”

• Bigger share of state cash for Medicaid, By Michael Cooper, December 13, 2011, New York Times: “Medicaid has steadily eaten up a growing share of state budgets over the past three years, while education has been getting a smaller slice of the pie. That is one of the changes that the lingering economic downturn and the changing American economy have wrought on state finances, according to an analysis of state spending over the last few years released Tuesday by the National Association of State Budget Officers…”
• State Medicaid spending soars, By Lisa Lambert, December 14, 2011, Chicago Tribune: “Spending by U.S. states on Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, soared last year and will likely continue growing despite measures to contain costs, according to a report released on Tuesday. Total Medicaid spending, excluding administrative costs, likely reached $398.6 billion in fiscal 2011, which ended in June for most states. That was up 10.1 percent from the year before, when spending rose 6 percent, the National Association of State Budget Officers reported. Medicaid was nearly one-quarter of all state expenditures in fiscal 2011, compared to elementary and secondary education, which accounted for 20 percent of all spending…”
• Medicaid money for Texas to jump, By Don Finley, December 13, 2011, San Antonio Express-News: “The federal government Monday granted Texas a waiver that could mean billions more in Medicaid dollars to hospitals over the next few years, in return for having them work together to provide better care for the poor. In Bexar County, that could mean new money to help keep the mentally ill from overusing crowded hospital emergency rooms, among other new services, one local official said. At the same time, federal officials slapped down a request from Texas to deny Medicaid patients access to family planning centers such as Planned Parenthood that also provide abortions - a plan that had drawn the anger of family planning advocates…”
• Medicaid waiver could be boon for Texas hospitals, By Don Finley, December 12, 2011, Houston Chronicle: “The federal government on Monday granted Texas a waiver that could mean billions more in Medicaid dollars to hospitals over the next few years in return for having them work together to provide better care for the poor…”
• Studies point to flaws in Florida’s Medicaid managed care, By Christine Vestal, December 14, 2011, Stateline.org: “Like many other states in fiscal duress, Florida sliced a large portion of its Medicaid budget this fiscal year, primarily by cutting payments to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers. Next year, Governor Rick Scott wants to double the size of reductions to the federal-state program - again by cutting provider fees. Within the next two years, however, the Republican governor expects to shave billions from the state budget by letting private health plans take over the care of all of Florida’s Medicaid patients - more than 3 million people. Scott’s plan is a statewide expansion of a controversial five-county managed care pilot started by Republican former Governor Jeb Bush in 2006. The state Medicaid office sought approval for the plan in August and a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected soon…”
• Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget includes $2.1 billion cut in Medicaid, By Matt Dixon, December 12, 2011, Florida Times-Union: “When Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his proposed $66.4 billion budget last week, many people in the capital and around the state cast it as schools versus hospitals. Scott’s spending plan injected public education with a roughly $1 billion increase but cut $2.1 billion in reimbursements for Medicaid. The cut prompted a fast pushback from the Safety Net Alliance of Florida, a lobbying group that represents 15 of the state’s biggest hospitals. It estimates the cuts would cost its members $1.4 billion…”
• Maine Medicaid deficit mainly due to budget miscalculations, By John Richardson, December 13, 2011, Portland Press Herald: “A $120 million budget deficit projected for the fiscal year that began July 1 has set off an ideological debate over the future of Maine’s Medicaid program. The deficit itself, however, is mostly the result of a series of technical budgeting miscalculations, according to a report prepared by the LePage administration. Problems with a new claims processing system, a loss of federal funds that wasn’t accounted for, and a failure to budget for increases in federal Medicare premiums are among the biggest causes…”
• Proposed Medicaid cuts draw big protests in Maine, By John Gramlich, December 15, 2011, Stateline.org: “Earlier this year, it was Arizona that drew national attention for removing tens of thousands of its citizens from the Medicaid rolls. Now, Maine Governor Paul LePage wants to do the same, saying the state-federal health insurance program is becoming unsustainable. LePage is pushing a proposal that would eliminate 65,000 Mainers from Medicaid, as the Bangor Daily News reports. At a hearing on the proposal Wednesday (December 14), hundreds of protesters converged on the State House to voice their disapproval of the plan, which seeks to close a $220 million shortfall in the state health and human services budget…”
• Report on R.I’s Global Medicaid Waiver finds $22M in savings, By Richard Asinof, December 14, 2011, Providence Business News: “The long-awaited report by the Lewin Group on Rhode Island’s Global Medicaid Waiver was released on Dec. 13, finding that some $22.9 million in savings had been created over three years, far below the $100 million in savings claimed by Gary Alexander, former Secretary of the R.I. Office of Health and Human Services under former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s administration…”
• Pa.’s drop in Medicaid rolls stirs controversy, By Don Sapatkin, December 15, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Since August, the Corbett administration has cut off more than 150,000 people - including 43,000 children - from medical assistance in a drive to save costs. That purge far exceeds what any other state has tried, health policy experts say, and officials may be walking a fine line between rooting out waste and erecting barriers to care for the poor and disabled. When most states were experiencing flat or rising Medicaid enrollment from the economic downturn, stepped-up eligibility reviews in Pennsylvania began producing a decline over the summer. The pace of cuts picked up in November, with 90,000 cases, or 4 percent, dropped in a single month. In New Jersey, enrollment increased by 391 the same month…”

• Maine gov seeks Medicaid cuts to bridge budget gap, By Glenn Adams (AP), December 6, 2011, Boston Globe: “Saying Maine cannot afford one of the country’s most generous Medicaid programs over the long term, Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday proposed tougher eligibility standards and other changes that would leave more than 60,000 people without coverage they are now receiving. In a news conference Tuesday, LePage said an analysis of state spending in current fiscal year, which ends in June, shows a shortfall of $120 million in Medicaid, known in the state as MaineCare. The shortfall for the 2012-13 fiscal year is an additional $101 million ‘that we know of,’ he said, creating a $221 million gap. The 361,000 people now on Medicaid ‘is pushing one-third of our population,’ said the Republican governor, while the national average is about 20 percent…”
• Medicaid, seniors’ tax break loom over Colorado’s next budget, By Tim Hoover, December 11, 2011, Denver Post: “Gov. John Hickenlooper helped end a standoff over the state budget between Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the last legislative session, but a fiscal fracas shaping up for 2012 may prove much harder to quell. That’s because this time the Democratic governor himself is squarely in the middle of it, recommending a 2012-13 budget that would suspend a property tax break for seniors that would cost the state $98.6 million. The Senior Homestead Exemption allows Coloradans 65 and older who have lived in their homes for at least 10 years to exempt 50 percent of the first $200,000 of the property value of their homes from taxes. But Republicans say they don’t want to delay the tax break for additional years. Instead, they say, Hickenlooper should be trying to seek a federal waiver to trim the cost of Medicaid, the state and federally funded health care program for the poor that takes nearly a third of the state’s general fund…”
• State Medicaid cuts concern clients, By JoAnne Young, December 10, 2011, Lincoln Journal Star: “Ron and Laura Trautman tried to have a baby for 10 years before Christopher and Adam were born May 17, 2007. One of the twins, Christopher, was born with multiple birth defects. His physical problems kept him in Omaha Children’s Hospital for 15 months. So far, he’s had 29 surgeries, with more to come. At 4, he still has a tracheostomy and eats through a gastrostomy button feeding device. He’s about three years behind in development. ‘With all the surgeries he’s had, we’re lucky to have him,’ his dad said. Medicaid helps the Waverly family with nursing care for Christopher so the parents can work and go to school…”

• 160,000 jobless Michiganders at risk of losing safety net, By Katharine Yung, December 5, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Unless Congress acts to continue extended unemployment benefits, it could be a grim holiday season for nearly 160,000 Michiganders. An end to the extended benefits would immediately impact 61,000 state residents who are getting this federal aid after exhausting their 26 weeks of state-funded assistance. Another 98,743 people who are receiving state benefits would no longer get additional help if they are still jobless after 26 weeks…”
• Jobless benefits a holiday uncertainty, By Catharine Candisky, December 4, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “For the second year in a row, thousands of unemployed Ohioans face the holidays uncertain about whether their jobless benefits will continue into the new year. Nearly 77,000 jobless Ohioans - more than a quarter of whom rely on unemployment to pay their mortgages, utility bills and grocery bills - will exhaust benefits in early January unless Congress agrees to fund another extension of federal assistance. By early April, 107,000 more workers would fall off the rolls, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said…”
• Clock ticking on Mainers’ unemployment benefits, By Susan McMillan, December 4, 2011, Morning Sentinel: “Maine is bracing for a new wave of need as extended federal unemployment benefits near their end. If Congress does not reauthorize extended benefits, 17,000 Mainers will see their benefits run out by May, Department of Labor spokesman Adam Fisher said. The department and its 12 regional Career Centers will increase outreach to unemployment claimants and add workshops to help the long-term unemployed find work…”

Federal cuts give Maine a chill as winter approaches, By Abby Goodnough, November 27, 2011, New York Times: “Michele Hodges works six days a week but still cannot afford a Maine winter’s worth of heat for her trailer in Corinth, a tiny town where snowmobiles can outnumber cars. Ms. Hodges and her two teenage daughters qualified for federal heating assistance last year, but their luck might have run out. President Obama has proposed sharply cutting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and Maine is at this point expecting less than half of the $55.6 million that it received last winter, even as more people are applying. The average state benefit last year was about $800 for the season; now it may be closer to $300. Eligibility requirements have tightened too, and with oil prices climbing - the average in Maine was $3.66 a gallon last week, up from $2.87 a year ago - many here are anticipating days or weeks of forgoing heat…”

Maine told heat aid being slashed, By Glenn Adams (AP), November 2, 2011, Lewiston Sun Journal: “As Andy Tasker watches his work hours and pay go down, his need for heating assistance goes up. The Auburn resident and thousands like him in Maine are facing drastic cuts in Low Income Home Energy Assistance, as the price of heating oil rises far above last year’s level. ‘This is a necessity to me,’ Tasker said Monday, just days after federal government told the Maine State Housing Authority that it should expect to receive $23 million for the program, down from $55.6 million last year - a 60 percent drop. Maine Housing officials, and their counterparts around the Northeast, are hoping one of two bills in Congress will bolster heating assistance, but the outlook nonetheless is not good that the final amount will help people like Tasker…”

House rejects minimum wage hike, By Rebekah Metzler, May 25, 2011, Morning Sentinel: “The Maine House voted 77-69 along party lines Tuesday to reject a proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $8 an hour over the next two years. The vote marked a change from recent years, when Democratic majorities in the Legislature routinely approved increases. Republican lawmakers, now in the majority, argued Tuesday that an increase would serve as a mandate that harms businesses. Democrats said struggling low-wage workers could use the extra $10 a week to buy necessities…”

Lawmakers want to change welfare, but are the changes constitutional?, By Kevin Miller, April 21, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “Fixing welfare is easy enough to talk about on the campaign trail. But when it comes to actually revamping the social service programs created to help those in need, reform efforts often run up against federal restrictions, constitutional prohibitions and, in some cases, the fact that reality is different than political perception. On Monday, a legislative committee will take up a number of bills dealing with welfare, MaineCare and other social services. Although a perennial issue, welfare reform efforts gained momentum with the election last November of Gov. Paul LePage and a new Republican majority in the Legislature. LePage has pushed forward with his reform agenda by incorporating changes into his two-year, $6.1 billion budget now in the hands of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee. But lawmakers have introduced their own proposals, some more contentious than others. A few of the measures on Monday’s agenda in the Health and Human Services Committee are repeats from previous years that critics hope will suffer a similar fate…”

LePage seeks to bar noncitizens from welfare for first 5 years, By John Richardson, February 11, 2011, Kennebec Journal: “Gov. Paul LePage launched his first attempt at welfare reform Thursday, proposing to save about $20 million over two years by eliminating a variety of benefits for new immigrants and refugees who are not yet U.S. citizens. ‘Maine was built by immigrants,’ LePage said in his first budget address. ‘Maine must always be a welcoming place for those who seek an opportunity to advance through hard work and self-reliance.’ However, LePage said, Maine should no longer be ‘one of just a few places in the country that offers welfare on day one for legal noncitizens.’ His proposal would make legal noncitizen residents ineligible for MaineCare, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families during their first five years of residency in the state…”

• Demand for general assistance at critical point in Bangor, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “In the six years that Shawn Yardley has overseen the city’s health and community services department, he has never seen things this dire. On most mornings when he arrives at his office before 8 a.m., Yardley unlocks the door for residents who are waiting to fill out an application for general assistance. Most applicants are encouraged to make appointments, but walk-ins are becoming more common. Yardley always lets them wait in the lobby. Some have to wait for hours but they are always seen. General assistance, an emergency safety net program administered by municipalities but funded in part by the state, is becoming an increasingly used entitlement for people struggling with finances or waiting to receive federal subsidies…”
• TANF study to contribute to welfare debate, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “Advocacy groups are calling on lawmakers to focus on facts, not anecdotes and stereotypes, as Gov. Paul LePage and the Republican-controlled Legislature gear up to tackle welfare reform. Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Women’s Lobby released a study Wednesday of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - or TANF - cases in Maine. TANF is a federal entitlement program, administered by states, that provides a cash benefit to families with dependent children and includes an education and retraining program called ASPIRE. Last year, Maine distributed roughly $32 million in TANF benefits. The yearlong study, conducted by Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin at the University of New England and Sandy Butler at the University of Maine, concluded that recent discussions of welfare reform make unfair generalizations about TANF families…”

Residency requirement could be part of LePage welfare overhaul, By Steve Mistler, January 7, 2011, Lewiston Sun Journal: “Gov. Paul LePage’s decision Thursday to allow state agencies to ask people about their immigration status likely will be the first step in his plan to overhaul Maine’s welfare system. A spokesman for LePage said the governor’s executive order was meant to send a message that Maine would no longer be a ’sanctuary state’ for people seeking a driver’s license or social services. But advocate groups for low-income individuals expect the move is a precursor to Republican efforts to impose residency duration requirements on certain welfare programs, particularly General Assistance, which disburses vouchers to qualifying families for critical living expenses, such as utilities and food. General Assistance recipients are already required to prove they’re living in Maine. However, widespread concerns that needy people are coming to Maine to take advantage of its welfare programs have prompted Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation that would require people to live here for a determined period before receiving assistance…”

• Health coverage at risk for working poor in Pa., By Don Sapatkin, November 17, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “An affordable health-insurance program for low-income working people that was started by Gov. Tom Ridge and expanded under Gov. Rendell is projected to run out of money within weeks after Gov.-elect Corbett takes office, administration officials said. Contractual obligations mean that insurance-termination notices may need to go to tens of thousands of subscribers in the program, known as adultBasic, even before the new governor is sworn in, if more than $50 million is not found before then, they said. As attorney general, Corbett joined a lawsuit seeking to overturn President Obama’s health-care overhaul. The opposition was based on the mandate that individuals and many businesses sign up or pay a fine, said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the transition. The governor-elect said during the campaign that he supported plans to continue funding the state program at least through the fiscal year that ends June 30…”
• With Medicaid waiver, California dives into health care reform, By Christine Vestal, November 19, 2010, Stateline.org: “Nearly missed in the noise from newly elected politicians vowing to upend the Obama administration’s health care reform law was a federal decision allowing California to start implementing it - and improve its fiscal situation in the process. On Election Day, California got word it would receive $10 billion in federal Medicaid money to extend coverage to some 500,000 people who are currently uninsured. The initiative means the nation’s most populous state will dive right into the new health law’s biggest challenge: providing coverage for low-income adults who are not eligible for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. The plan, which the state calls a ‘bridge to reform,’ is also designed to bolster the state’s safety-net hospitals, as well as lower overall health care costs. Under the Nov. 2 agreement - a waiver of standard Medicaid rules aimed at allowing states to test innovative new programs - California promised to shave $2 billion per year from its existing Medicaid bill by streamlining care for its highest-cost recipients: seniors, adults with disabilities and children with severe illnesses. The federal government agreed to give California $2 billion per year in return…”
• Maine Republicans say they will end ‘Dirigo’ health care experiment, By Pamela M. Prah, November 17, 2010, Stateline.org: “Before there was a federal health care overhaul, and before there was a Massachusetts law to use as a model for the national plan, there was Dirigo. That’s what Maine called its first-in-the-nation attempt at achieving universal health coverage when Democrats approved the plan back in 2003. Now, the Maine program may be one of the first casualties of the Republican landslide in state capitals. Maine’s incoming governor, Paul LePage, pledged during the campaign to ‘repeal and replace’ the plan, which is Latin for ‘I lead’ and is the state’s motto. Republicans also took control of the Maine House and Senate, making the state one of only two to flip from total Democratic control to total control by Republicans (Wisconsin was the other)…”

• Welfare: Well-meaning, well-funded, well-done?, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “Wherever the candidates for governor go in Maine, they say, one question is likely to follow them. What are you going to do about welfare? ‘I have never seen anger this intense about anything, with the possible exception of the Vietnam War,’ said Eliot Cutler, one of three independent candidates on the ballot. The face of welfare in Maine might be a mother buying cigarettes with her state-issued debit card. It might be an elderly neighbor on the edge of becoming homeless. Both pictures are accurate — and that’s one of the reasons that Maine’s complex system of aid to the poor creates starkly different views of welfare and the people who receive it. With a gubernatorial election coming in between a deep recession and a billion-dollar budget crisis, the topic of public assistance for the poor may be the most emotionally charged issue in the Nov. 2 election. Advocates and critics of the system both throw out statistics to support their views, but it is clear that Maine’s system is facing historic pressures…”
• Maine welfare system data proves hard to get, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “There is nearly universal agreement on one criticism of Maine’s welfare system: Getting detailed information on what the state spends and who gets the money can be a tall order…”
• Poll shows Mainers dissatisfied with, mistrustful of assistance programs, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “Maine voters are frustrated and skeptical about the state’s public assistance programs, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage has tapped into that anger far more than his rivals, according to a poll by MaineToday Media…”
• From Welfare to Work: For many Mainers, there’s no free lunch, By John Richardson, October 18, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “It’s 7:30 a.m., and Portland’s General Assistance office is filled with men and women who need help paying their rent or some other basic expense. But they’re here for the day’s job assignments. One by one, they are sent off to clean the city’s homeless shelter, do laundry at the Barron Center, clean up a park or do clerical work at City Hall, among other tasks. These days, for thousands of Mainers, welfare is work. And people on the receiving end say they like it that way…”
• Candidates tackle welfare: State’s assistance programs face a political reality check, By John Richardson, October 19, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “From a business executive who grew up in poverty to a longtime legislator who defends public assistance programs, the candidates for governor have widely differing perspectives on welfare in Maine. Whoever wins Nov. 2 is sure to oversee changes in Maine’s welfare system…”

Poverty hits rural Maine the hardest, By Eric Russell, September 9, 2010, Bangor Daily News: “Maine’s poverty rate in 2008 was slightly below the national average, but the state’s rural counties are at a much higher level, according to a study released Thursday. The report, which was researched and prepared by the Maine Community Action Association and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center of the University of Maine, highlights the widespread impact of the current economic recession, said MCAA president Tim King. ‘The report doesn’t go into the causes of poverty and it doesn’t answer questions about what needs to be done,’ he said Thursday. ‘That’s up to state policymakers.’ One of those policymakers, Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said the poverty report affirms what most Mainers already know. ‘The [recession] has made an already immense need greater,’ she said. ‘But this begins to lay a roadmap and help triage the things that [the Legislature] needs to address.’ The poverty report arrived the same day the Maine Heritage Policy Center held a press conference and issued a study saying Maine is the most welfare-dependent state in the nation. The center says enrollment has grown by 70 percent since 2003, while its poverty level has remained stable…”

Food stamp recipients hit new high: 1 in 5 in Maine, 1 in 10 in New Hampshire, By Jason Claffey, September 5, 2010, Laconia Citizen: “For the first time, the number of Americans on food stamps has exceeded 40 million. The government in August reported 40.8 million people were on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the administrative name for food stamps. The figure increased nearly 20 percent from a year ago. In Maine, nearly one in five people are on food stamps. In New Hampshire, about one in 10 are. Both states experienced double-digit percentage hikes in the number of food stamp recipients in August compared to the same time last year. The record numbers show more people than ever are receiving the help they need, but on the other hand, it shows the effect of a high unemployment rate that has budged little in the wake of the recession…”

A quarter of children in 3 counties at high risk level, By Meg Haskell, March 29, 2010, Bangor Daily News: “Children in Maine continue to live at unacceptable levels of poverty, according to the latest edition of Maine Kids Count, the annual survey of the physical, social, economic and educational well-being of the state’s youngsters. The report, now in its 16th year, is used to identify public policy issues and to guide change in matters affecting children. Other problems affecting Maine children and underscored in this year’s report are the state’s low median household income - $46,419 compared to $52,029 nationally - and a high incidence of juvenile mental and behavioral health problems…”

Maine may index minimum wage, By Deborah McDermott, March 1, 2010, Portsmouth Herald: “The Maine Legislature’s Joint Labor Committee is currently debating a bill that would tie the state’s minimum wage to cost-of-living increases - a measure that has strong detractors and passionate supporters. LD 192, introduced by Sanford Democratic Rep. John Tuttle, requires the Department of Labor to calculate the inflation-adjusted miminum hourly wage based on changes in the CPI for the Northeast each Jan. 1, starting this year. Excluded from the calculations would be any month in which the state’s unemployment rate exceeds the national unemployment rate. So far, Maine’s rate hasn’t exceeded the national rate. Maine’s hourly minimum wage is $7.50 an hour, 25 cents an hour higher than the federal minimum. If Tuttle’s bill passes, Maine will be the 11th state that indexes minimum wage. A similar effort in New Hampshire was killed last year, leaving the Granite State’s minimum at $7.25 an hour…”

• Governor warns of deep fiscal crisis as he unveils California budget plan, By Evan Halper and Shane Goldmacher, January 9, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Friday that the state remained deep in fiscal crisis and proposed steep reductions in almost every major government program, but many lawmakers quickly dismissed his ideas as stale and vowed to push for alternatives such as tax hikes. His proposal, aimed at closing a $19.9-billion gap, and the response to it foreshadow another year of paralysis in Sacramento as the governor and lawmakers struggle with the latest crippling shortfall. The new budget blueprint — the governor’s last before term limits force him from office — comes after the state’s epic financial problems have already become a target of ridicule around the world. Even after $60 billion in program cuts, tax increases and federal stimulus money over the last year, California’s books are so far out of balance that the state is once again in danger of having to issue IOUs…”
• Budget proposal ‘disaster’ for the poor, By Troy Anderson, January 12, 2010, Los Angeles Daily News: “The governor’s proposed state budget could mean a record loss of nearly $4 billion for Los Angeles County, putting hundreds of thousands of needy residents at risk of losing welfare checks, in-home care, health care and other services, officials said Tuesday. ‘It’s very stressful for us when we hear the state budget has a $20 billion shortfall,’ said Gloria Molina, who chairs the Board of Supervisors. ‘We know there is going to be an awful lot of cuts made for many of our services… That is terrifying to all of us.’ Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget, Molina said, nearly 400,000 county welfare recipients could lose $1 billion in benefits…”
• Social services cuts worry Bangor, Portland, By Glenn Adams (AP), January 12, 2010, Bangor Daily News: “Lawmakers expressed horror over proposed cuts in the state program that helps some of the most desperate Mainers on Monday as they began reviewing potential social service cuts recommended by Gov. John Baldacci’s administration. The program is called general assistance and it serves as a last resort for the homeless, the hungry and ‘those out on the street,’ Sen. Joseph Brannigan said during a hearing before two committees assessing numerous cuts. The cuts in Baldacci’s supplemental two-year budget seek to address a $438 million gap between revenues and expenses…”

Homeless in Bangor, By Eric Russell, November 21, 2009, Bangor Daily News: “The signs of homelessness growing in Bangor are everywhere. They are just far enough off the beaten path to go unnoticed by many. People take shelter in makeshift camps under the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. In the wooded area off Hammond Street known as The Pines. Inside jails and emergency rooms and the police station lobby. The trend is heart-wrenching and perpetual - and just might indicate the arrival of a perfect storm, according to experts. Bangor’s shelters are full. State and federal housing subsidies have either dried up or created unfathomable waiting lists. General assistance, which is supposed to be emergency and temporary funding, is stretched paper-thin. Additional social service cuts from the state seem imminent…”